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Hullavington

#ON02.18 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Absolutely riveting

Hangar 86 (pictured on the cover) was completed in 1937. It was built to house the planes used to protect British skies during WW2. In the post-war period H86 wasn't maintained and slowly decayed along with the airfield's eight other hangars. When Dyson purchased the airfield in 2016 the hangars clearly required major restoration. The picture above shows how H86 looked on the day Dyson became its new owner.

Contents

Timeline, 1066-2021 The flying monk of Malmesbury R.A.F. Hullavington opens Hullavington revisited by Jonathan Glancey Heyday aeroplanes, 1943 The World Aerobatic Championships, 1970 Q&A Chris Wilkinson, architect Dyson's H86 in 360° Hullavington 2.0

12 16 18 22 30 38 58 64 78

Editorial Editor

Henry Tobias Jones

Creative Direction and Design

Joseph Sinclair Parker Photo Director

Ryan Grimley

Designer

Barns Furr

Contributing Writers, Photographers & Illustrators Fred MacGregor David Vintner Red Dress Illustration Jonathan Glancey Jonn Elledge With thanks to: WilkinsonEyre, The FIA, The National Archive, Imperial War Museum, Joy Bloomfield at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Ministry of Defence, the Estate of Art Scholl, Oli Turnbull & Ilgaz Meydan. Dyson has taken all reasonable care to ensure that information contained in this magazine is accurate on the stated date of publication. However, it is possible that information may be out of date or incomplete and information is therefore provided is with no guarantee of accuracy, completeness or timeliness. Opinions expressed are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent the views of Dyson. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts before relying on any information contained in this magazine. Dyson accepts no responsibility for the consequences of error or for any loss or damage suffered by readers who use any information and/or materials contained in this magazine. Materials contained in this magazine are subject to copyright and other proprietary rights. Dyson are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you do not think that we have met those standards and want to make a complaint, please contact editorial@dyson.com Copyright Dyson © 2018

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When Hullavington airfield opened in 1937 its runways were grass as this aerial photograph shows ÂŠ IWM

PAST Buildings have a life of their own which often outlives the architects who designed them

Dyson started in a coach house in Bath, Britain’s answer to a San Francisco garage. Our first offices in Chicago were in the historic Montgomery Ward building, the former home of America’s oldest mail order catalogue business. We can be found in a former car factory in Shanghai's French Concession area, and in Canada's Manufacturer’s Building.

Our newest space is no different. Hullavington already has a long and significant history but we want to make more. This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just land - hidden beneath years of neglect and dereliction are stories which inspire us.

1066 - 2018

Timeline 1066

Hullavington estate belongs to Harold Godwinson, who is defeated by the Norman, William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. This was the last time the British Isles were successfully invaded.

1084 - 1086

Hullavington, at that time known as 'Hunlavingtone', has a population of 200. The Hullavington estate passes to Ralph de Mortimer, one of King William’s courtiers. He donates the local church to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Victor in Caux, Rouen.

1201 - 1203

After just 100 years Hullavington, has once again changed its name and is known as ‘Hundlavinton’. The abbot of St. Victor builds a new water mill on Gauze brook which has tributaries running along the current borders of Hullavington airfield.

1292

Hullavington manor has two water mills primarily used to support animal husbandry including grazing 200 sheep and 24 oxen.

1377

By this time, both of the water mills are in a “feeble” condition and there is no further record of them, suggesting they were destroyed. The population is estimated to be 250 people.

1400s

Boundary markers are planted on each of the north-south edges of the parish which run parallel to the village’s main thoroughfare which is known simply as ‘The Street’. They are visible until 1989. Ownership of Hullavington manor passes from the abbot of St. Victor to King Henry VI. He in turn gives Eton College the exclusive use of Hullavington manor which they held until 1958. The local court orders all males between the ages of seven and 60 to practise archery on Sundays.

1443

1558 1583

Hullavington is at this time known as 'Hullonton'.

1630

An odd collection flowers referred to as "strange plantain" are discovered in the Old Rectory Garden.

1645

Hullavington is at this time known as 'Hull Lavington'

1690

A local man named Ayliffe Green leaves an endowment of £1-a-year to help look after the "poor children of Hullavington".

1703

A travelling menagerie of exotic animals arrives in neighbouring Malmesbury. A servant girl at the White Lion Inn, Hannah Twynnoy, is working at the tavern and goes to see the exhibition which, according to an account from the time, included a “very fierce tiger which she imprudently took pleasure in teasing,

not-withstanding the repeated remonstrance of its keeper.” The enraged tiger escaped its cage and, as the plaque that commemorates the incident states: “sprang towards the unhappy girl, caught hold of her gown and tore her to pieces.” She was the first person in the to be killed by a Tiger in the UK. 1730

Although the town church has been called St. Mary Magdalene's since 1408, it is at this time dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin.

1801

The population of Hullavington parish reaches 395 people.

1819

The Star Inn and the Queen's Head pubs are first mentioned. The Queen’s head didn’t close until 1998 and the Star Inn still trades, but as the Hullavington Arms.

1832

A day school is opened in the town for six boys and six girls. A year later another school opens, this time for 20 boys and 19 girls, built on the east side of The Street.

1835

A workhouse, which has been in operation in Malmesbury since 1781, has 46 inmates in 1803. An economic downturn following the Napoleonic Wars is made worse by new agricultural technologies meaning that fewer people are employed on farms – Hullavington’s primary source of employment. By 1825 a new parish poorhouse is constructed to cope with overpopulation. By 1832 national poor relief spending reached £7 million per year, prompting the government to launch a Royal Commission investigation into solving rising poverty levels. A centralised Poor Law Commission was established, known as the “New Poor Law” which merged parishes into Poor Law Unions. In 1935 Hullavington joins Malmesbury's poor-law union.

1840 — At this time Hullavington parish is half arable and half grassland, and is worked by 10 farms. 1871 - 1872

Major works were required at the St. Mary the Virgin church which hadn't undergone major works since 1604. In 1861there was a major redesign of the church. The recently elected president of the Architectural Association and later vice-president of RIBA, Sir Arthur William Blomfield is commissioned for the job. He later designed the Royal College of Music’s red-brick building in South Kensington, London.

1891

1902 1903

There are a total of 543 people living in the village. The most common name in the town is Greenman, followed by Gough, Wicks, and Broom. At this time the average attendance at the village’s school reaches 114 boys and girls. In 1897 the first sod was cut for the London to South Wales railway line. By 1903 there was a train station, weighbridge and siding in the village. An influx of nearly 300 railway workers increased Hullavington’s population which later declined once the railways were built. By 1961, the railway station was closed to passengers. By 1965 the station was closed permanently, however, the rest of the line still operates today taking services from London Paddington to south Wales.

1921 — After World War One, Hullavington’s population reaches its 20th century low of just 478 people. 1937

In 1923 the R.A.F. had no more than 371 first-line aircraft. By 1934 they had 800 and 42 squadrons. When Hitler invaded Poland they could field 3,700 aircraft and 157 squadrons. Many of these fighting aeroplanes were moved away from coastal regions and into the centre of the British Isles, which had a lower risk of being bombed. One such site, opened in Hullavington, Wiltshire, in 1937 following a compulsory land purchase by the MoD. The newly created R.A.F. Hullavington opens and many of the village’s farms are demolished to clear the land required. The No. 9 Flying Training School moves there from R.A.F. Thornby. Unlike many airfields of the day, R.A.F. Hullavington was built in attractive Bath stone to blend in with its surroundings.

1939

A telephone exchange is built in Hullavington.

1940

On 14th August, a German air attack targets Hullavington airfield, killing seven and seriously injuring six airmen. One of the aircraft hangars is also damaged. The No. 2 Flying Training School's leaves Hullavington. The first American servicemen arrive for training in January. On 31 July the Advanced Flying Unit moves in. New houses are built at the north end of Hullavington village joining Newtown to the main part of the village.

1942

1945

1984

Michael Radford’s motion picture version of George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” brings production to RAF Hullavington. Filming for the infamous ‘Two Minutes Hate” scene takes place a hangar and over 200 local people appear as extras. The scene depicts a dystopian state-sponsored ceremony involving people venting their hatred towards the enemies of their totalitarian leader, Big Brother. In the words of the main character in the novel, Winston Smith: “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one’s will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.”

1992

R.A.F. Hullavington formally closes and the site is taken over by the British Army’s 9th Regiment Royal Logistic Corps. Their barracks, located on the eastern side of the former airfield, are renamed in 2003 to commemorate the Victoria Cross winner, Major John Buckley.

1993

Two Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS) schools; 621 VGS and 625 VGS, move to the airfield and flying resumes at the site. They fly using a Viking and a modified civilian Grob 103.

2001

A census records that the village’s population is 1,247 people, more than twice the number recorded during the 1950s.

2013

The two gliding schools based at Hullavington merge and become 621 VGS.

2016

The combined land that the MoD owns equates to roughly 1.8 percent of the UK. Following cuts to the Defence budgets, the MoD publishes it’s A Better Defence Estate report which found that over 50 percent of all their built assets were over 50 years old. The report lists Hullavington airfield as one of 91 national sites being "repurposed". The airfield is formally closed and the gliding school moves to R.A.F. Little Rissington.

2017

In March, Dyson purchases the 517-acre airfield in Hullavington. In September, Sir James Dyson announces that Dyson has been secretly developing an electric car which will be launched in 2020-21.

2018

By March, Dyson completes the purchase of further nearby land increasing the size of the new Hullavington site to 750 acres. Work begins on Hangar 85 in May. On 22nd June Hangar 86 is completed, and the team working on the Dyson electric vehicle officially move into their new home.

Malmesbury & the birth of aviation Anglo-Saxon England led the world in science and technology, with Wiltshire as the epicentre of this innovation. For example, the world’s first giant pipe organ was installed in Winchester cathedral in 950AD. The Bishop of Winchester, Aelfeg, made it so large that it required 400 pipes, 26 bellows and 70 men to operate it. It was the most complex machine of its time. A less well-known, and on this occassion unsuccessful, feat of engineering took place in Malmesbury in 1010AD which forever tied the area to a spirit of experimentation and attempting the impossible. William of Malmesbury was a respected historian and monk, writing in the 12th century AD. In his De gestis regum Anglorum, William describes the arrival of Halley’s comet. It was believed that the comet was an omen of the Norman invasion in 1066. Describing the reaction to the event, William writes: “A comet, a star foretelling, they say, change in kingdoms, appeared trailing its long and fiery tail across the sky. Wherefore a certain monk of our monastery, Eilmer by name, bowed down with terror at the sight of the brilliant star, sagely cried ‘Thou art come! A cause of grief to many a mother art thou come; I have seen thee before but now I behold much more terrible, threatening to hurl destruction on this land. “He was a man learned for those times, of ripe old age, and in his early youth had hazarded a deed of remarkable boldness. He had by some means, I scarcely know what, fastened wings to his hands and feet so that, mistaking fable for truth, he might fly like Daedalus, and, collecting the breeze on. The summit of a tower, he flew for more than the distance of a furlong. But, agitated by the violence of the wind and the swirling of air, as well as by awareness of his rashness, he fell, broke his legs, and was lame ever after. He himself used to say that the cause of his failure was his forgetting to put a tail on the back part.” This was the first recorded attempt at human-powered flight in Britain. An historian's study claims that “Ailmer flew with rigid wings of considerable size, since they were attached to both his arms and legs. Probably they were intended to flap like those of a bird, but were hinged in such a way that they would not fold upward but would soar like a glider.” Today, a stained glass window in Malmesbury abbey commemorates his 'flight'. While Eilmer failed, his attempt taught future aviators about problems which affect aviation such as drag, lift, and thrust. It took until the 1880s for mankind to really fly. In 1891, a Prussian inventor named Otto Lilienthal, built his first wicker and cotton ‘Derwitzer’ glider. He made over 2,000 flights between 1891 and 1896. Like Eilmer, Lilienthal flew by throwing himself from the top of a tall tower. Wilbur and Orville Wright said Lilienthal inspired their own heavier-than-air flight. Wilbur said that there had been many “feeble attempts to glide” spanning back hundreds of years, but “their failures were so complete that nothing of value resulted." Both Lilienthal and the Wright brothers forgot to add tails to the backs of their machines too.

“To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. To fly is everything.” — Otto Lilienthal

The entry sign for R.A.F. Hullavington which officially opened in 1937 ÂŠ REX

W H E R E TO BEGIN? Hullavington, like much of Britain in the lead up to WW2, was forced to adapt from an agricultural way of life, to a technological one.

Hullavington revisited By Jonathan Glancey

In 1923 Le Corbusier, the provocative Swiss-French architect, published Vers une Architecture, a polemic defining the house of the future as a “machine for living”. Iconoclastic page layouts lauded Greek temples and Gothic cathedrals in the same aesthetic breath as new French cars, giant American grain silos, ocean liners and biplanes. This was the same year that Sir Reginald Blomfield, the very model of an Edwardian architect, saw his R.A.F. Memorial - a Portland stone pylon crowned with a bronze zodiacal orb from which a gilded eagle spread its wings ready for flight - unveiled on London’s Victoria Embankment. British architects of Blomfield’s age thought little or nothing of Le Corbusier until four years later when Frederick Etchells, the Vorticist painter, translated Vers une Architecture into English. Cue outrage. In a caustic review of the book, Sir Edwin Lutyens, the greatest British architect of his generation, wrote, “M Le Corbusier’s theme is that architecture of our time should have the qualities of the machine. Efficiency and mass production are the watchwords. Houses are to be like the products of Mr Woolworth’s shops - stamped out or cast in moulds and sold, I suppose in

Cover of Towards a New Architecture written by Le Corbusier and published in 1923.

ratios of 3d and 6d. For such houses, Nature will provide a new humanity. Robots without eyes - for eyes that have no vision cannot be educated to see.” As for Sir Reginald, he waited until 1934 before letting rip and unleashing his own book; Modernismus, a choleric rant against the world represented by Le Corbusier, the Bauhaus and “functionalist” design. The Spectator panned Modernismus: even conservative thinkers, it appeared, found Blomfield too dismissive of modern life, while for Sir Edwin airplanes, automobiles and Atlantic liners were “excellent things in themselves” and, in design terms, “may well serve as tonics”. Intriguingly, 1934 was the year that the R.A.F.’s tonic to the nation, an ambitious expansion programme took effect. With Germany free to re-arm, the young R.A.F. moved rapidly into action. In 1923, it could field no more than 371 first-line aircraft. In 1934, it had 800 such machines in 42 squadrons. By the time Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, it boasted 157 squadrons and 3,700 fighting aircraft. Working under the auspices of the Air Ministry and with the Directorate of Works and Buildings, the R.A.F. invested in dozens of new aerodromes. One of the most expansive of these was Hullavington. What remains intriguing about their design is the way in which they brought together the architectural concerns of Blomfield and Lutyens, Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus.

14 JUNE 1937 R . A . F. H U L L AV I N GTO N A I R F I E L D ' S R U N WA Y S A R E O P E N E D

Ramsay MacDonald, prime minister of the National government of 1931-35, called on the Royal Fine Art Commission to supervise the design and planning of the new airfields. As these were major, technologically driven undertakings, there was concern about how they would fit into the British countryside and what image they should represent. Blomfield and Lutyens happened to be RFAC commissioners. Archibald Bulloch was appointed in October 1935 as Architectural Advisor to the Directorate of Works and Building. The 52-year old Scottish architect had worked around the world and, at home, designed both Neo-Georgian Post Offices and Telephone Exchanges - his best is in Bath - and electricity generating stations. So, Hullavington, one of the largest of the new airfields built between 1934 and 1939 boasts Neo-Georgian domestic and administrative buildings arranged in a Beaux-Arts or Garden City plan and designed by Bulloch in the style of Lutyens and Blomfield, and hangars and technical buildings that were at the forefront of new design and construction technology. Here at Hullavington, the design circle was

Above: A portrait of the architect and writer Sir Reginald Blomfield, painted in 1915.

squared: the new airfield would represent both modernity and tradition. The three-storey officers’ mess was clad in local limestone, its lobby and main hall lined in polished oak panelling. The aircraft hangars, two of which are being converted into Dyson offices and workshops by architects WilkinsonEyre were as up-to-the-minute as the design thinking of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, director of the Bauhaus. Above and beyond architectural and planning concerns, it was speed that drove the design and construction of Hullavington. Speed encouraged innovative design and engineering that, today, makes the former RAF airfield an ideal site for Dyson. What remains so very exciting is that, although the airfield, opened in 1937, has been closed to flying since September 2016, its least obvious buildings are daring designs that link Hullavington to the Bauhaus and pre-war Modernism and invention in unexpected ways. Around the perimeter of the airfield, for example, are late 1930s’ E-Type hangars. With their earth and turf roofs, these curved concrete buildings are truly discreet. Seen from the road, or from the air, they might be mistaken for Neolithic barrows, for which Wiltshire is famous. Think of the ancient earthworks around Avebury, from the low-lying to the spectacular like Silbury Hill, England’s echo of the pyramids of Ancient Egypt. Yet, where Silbury Hill is, as far as we know, a solid earthen mass, the doors of E-Type

Overleaf: Workers assembling Wellington Bombers at the Vickers factory in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.

hangars at Hullavington open to reveal quite spectacular spaces, free of columns, and shaped by ingenious concrete roof structures derived, in this case, from the work of Hugo Junkers, the German inventor and industrialist better known for the aircraft, including the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber, mass produced in his name at Dessau. A left-leaning pacifist, Junkers was one of the principal patrons of the Bauhaus. He played a key role in bringing the new design school to Dessau. Three years younger than Reginald Blomfield, Junkers was a successful inventor and maker of gas water heaters for bathrooms and fan heaters before turning to aircraft design. In 1915, he built the world’s first all-metal aircraft, the Junkers J.1. The material he employed was duralumin, an alloy of aluminium, copper, manganese and magnesium patented in 1909 by the German metallurgist Alfred Wilm. This was the material

12 DECEMBER 1915 M A I D E N F L I G H T O F H U G O J U N K E R S ' J. 1 T H E W O R L D ' S F I R S T A L L- M E TA L A I R C R A F T

used to mass-produce the Supermarine Spitfires that shot down Junkers bombers in the Second World War. By this time, however, Junkers had been bullied to death by the Nazi government, while Wilm had long taken up farming. In 1925, Junkers patented a steel development of the timber “Lamellandach”, or segmental roof, pre-fabricated structural system patented some years earlier by the German architect, engineer and town planner Friedrich “Fritz” Zollinger. Junkers’ net-like steel framework proved ideal for aircraft hangars. The first in Britain was built at Heston Air Park in 1930, in just five weeks, under licence by the Horseley Bridge & Engineering Company of Tipton, Staffs. Flight magazine described this as “hangar construction reduced to Mecanno simplicity”. The Horseley Bridge & Engineering Company sold its “Lamella” hangars on the strength not only of their innovative structure and speed of construction, but on that of “architectural beauty”, too. The concrete E-Type hangars at Hullavington, with their roots in German design although employing a simplified construction system, stand testimony to both the evolving relationship between aviation technology and architecture and to the technology transfer between engineering concerns fated to represent opposing sides and irreconcilable political creeds in hugely destructive warfare. Kier & Co built the E-Type hangars in 1938. Eighty years later, the Kier Group is involved in the restoration of the two Dyson D-Type hangars. Steel framed Lamella hangars can be

found at the former RAF Kemble airfield, Gloucestershire. The D-Types, built primarily as aircraft storage units, are built of reinforced concrete columns supporting concrete bowstring ribs, or trusses, that form the roof. Their 15-bay walls are solid 14in thick reinforced concrete with large steel windows at their upper level. Doors consist of six steel leaves, opening into concrete door gantries projecting from each side of the buildings. The construction of these hangars had been developed in France where sophisticated concrete engineering informed not only new airfield buildings, notably at Montaudron Airfield near Toulouse, but also the work of Auguste and Gustave Perret, whose church of Notre-Dame du Raincy (1922-23) remains a masterpiece of concrete construction. Le Corbusier worked in the brothers’ Paris studio in 1908-9. In certain lights, the Type D’s look like temples. When, though, Hullavington airfield opened in June 1937, its runways were grass and its first aircraft biplanes. The Hawker Harts of No 9 Flying Training School were, however, exceptional machines. Built by Vickers at Weybridge between 1931 and 1936, these were trainer versions of the light bomber Sydney Camm endowed with the performance and aerobatic dynamics of the latest fighters. Apprenticed as a carpenter in 1908 at the age of fifteen, by 1925 Camm was chief designer at Hawker. His later aircraft included the Typhoon, Tempest, Sea Fury, the pitch-perfect Hunter jet fighter and the Hawker-Siddeley P.1127/Kestrel FGA.1, progenitor of the VTOL Harrier jump jet, one of which, of course, stands outside the main entrance to Dyson’s Malmesbury campus. If you had been able to visit Hullavington in its 1940s heyday, you would have been impressed and perhaps even overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety of RAF aircraft gathered here, from Mosquitoes, Spitfires and Lancasters to Douglas Bostons, North American Mitchells and GAL Hotspur troop-carrying gliders. Although squad-

“Kier & Co built the E-Type hangars in 1938. Eighty years later, the Kier Group is involved in the restoration of the two Dyson D-Type hangars.”

rons based at Hullavington took part in the defence of Bath and Bristol, the airfield was built primarily for aircrew training, as well as the training of flight instructors, and for the storage of aircraft. Perhaps the most famous wartime pilot trained here was Pilot Officer - later Group Captain - Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO and Two Bars, DFC who was one of the two British observers on board the USAF B-29 bomber Big Stink when the atomic bomb Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki on 9th August 1945. Cheshire devoted the rest of his life to the care of people with disabilities. He may yet be canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

9 AUGUST 1945 C P T. L E O N A R D C H E S H I R E V C O B S E R V E S DROPPING "THE BOMB" ON NAGASAKI

Hullavington’s parish church is named after Mary Magdalene, a redeemed sinner who became a saint. In the 11th Century land here was held in the possession of Harold Godwinson, better known as Harold I, the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Harold was killed in 1066 during the last successful invasion of England. Hullavington airfield was built to stop an invasion by Nazi Germany. The fear of immanent invasion by this irredeemable state in September 1939 saw ten Bristol Blenheim bombers of 114 Squadron flying from their base at RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire to Hullavington where they would be safe from attack by marauding Messerschmitts and Stukas. The presumed aerial assault never happened. The Blenheims returned home within a fortnight. James Dyson, one of the judges of the 2015 Freddie March Spirit of Aviation Trophy at the Goodwood Revival, chose a painstakingly restored Blenheim as the winner. He would rather like to see a Blenheim on the new Dyson Hullavington campus. And, if not a Blenheim, then a Spitfire. From 1939, Hullavington was given over to many overlap-

Top: The Whittle gas-turbine engine.

ping uses. It was a base for RAF storage and maintenance units. One of the many components stowed here was the Whittle gas-turbine engine, waiting to be dispatched to Canada for cold weather testing, that has pride of place today inside the main building of the Malmsebury campus. It is the oldest surviving working example of the Rolls-Royce Welland jet engine, a machine that helped change the very nature of aviation.

Bottom: The atomic bomb, "Fat Man", which was dropped on Japan in 1945.

“The R.A.F. ceased regular flying from Hullavington in 1965 and R.A.F. Hullavington was closed in March 1992.”

3 J A N UA RY 1 9 9 3 D O U G L A S B A I L E Y, S E N I O R A I R C R A F T S M A N S E T S F I R E TO A PA R A C H U T E S TO R E Volunteer RAF gliding squadrons and their engineless aircraft had their base here, as did squadrons in charge of air defence balloons. The last of these “blimps” flew over the airfield in March 1995. The Empire Central Flying School was at Hullavington, as was No 1 Air Navigation School, the Air Electronics School, the Parachute Heavy Drop Company of the Royal Ordnance Corps, the Parachute Packing Unit, squadrons of the RAF Regiment and the Defence Codification Data Centre, moved to Glasgow in 1986. The airfield was the venue of the 1970 World Aerobatic Championship won by Igor Egorov of the Soviet Union flying a Yak-18PM single-seater, the aerobatic version of the Yakovlev trainer that Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, used for initial flight training. During 1963, Russian-speaking Iraqi pilots were trained at Hullavington. Model aircraft clubs have flown their miniature machines here, too. As well as the home of the ingenious and brave, Hullav-

One of Hullavington's parachute ovens being used to dry training equipment.

ington has been the playpen of the foolish, too. In January 1993 and after drinking seventeen pints of beer, Senior Aircraftsman Douglas Bailey, 26, set fire to the parachute store in one of the Type D hangars causing £19m worth of damage. In 1703, according to a plaque attached to Hullavington church, and since lost, 33 year old Hannah Twynnoy, a servant at the White Lion Inn, where there happened to be a menagerie of exotic animals, “took pleasure in teasing, not withstanding the remonstrance of its keeper”, a fierce tiger. Managing to escape from its cage, the enraged cat “sprang towards the unhappy girl, caught hold of her gown and tore her to pieces.” The graves of young men based at RAF Hullavington who died in training accidents during the Second World War can be found in dignified rows in the church of St Giles, Stanton St Quinton on the fringe of the airfield. Sir Reginald Blomfield and Sir Edwin Lutyens were two of the Principal Architects of the Imperial War Graves Commission. The graves they designed remain dignified. The major monuments they built - Blomfield’s Menin Gate at Ypres, the Thiepval Memorial overlooking the Somme by Lutyens - are profound designs by these grand anti-Moderns. The R.A.F. ceased regular flying from Hullavington in 1965 and R.A.F. Hullavington was closed in March 1992. The Army took over. As Hullavington became home to 9 Theatre Logistic Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, English Heritage designated the entire former airfield a conservation area, stating that Hullavington “embodies, to a unique degree, the improved architectural quality associated with the post-1934 expansion of the RAF. Most of the buildings have survived and form a particularly coherent and well-ordered ensemble.” Those parts of the former airfield still in use by the Army were renamed Buckley Barracks in 2003, after Conductor John Buckley of the Bengal Ordnance Department, awarded the VC for his heroic defence of the Delhi magazine during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. In November 2016 the Ministry of Defence announced that the site would close in 2029. Meanwhile, in February 2017 Dyson bought the 517-acre airfield site beyond the barracks and work began almost immediately on the renovation and remodelling of the D-Type hangars as the development of this new technology campus took off. This, however, did not happen at the flick of a switch as buying an MOD airfield is not an off-the-shelf deal. Far from it. James Dyson, who has driven past the airfield since the late Sixties had to persuade David Cameron’s government to let him buy Hullavington. In fact, there were two other possible contenders both in Wiltshire, Lyneham, closed in 2012, and Colerne where the

24 JUNE 2018 DY S O N ' S E L E C T R I C V E H I C L E E N G I N E E R I N G T E A M M OV E I N TO H 8 6

Air Training Corps, the Royal Signals and Bristol University Air Squadron retain a presence. Even then, “Crichel Down” rules, established after a political scandal in 1954, require surplus government land acquired through compulsion to be offered back to former owners or their successors. Potential buyers must advertise their interest to ensure former landowners are informed. If the parties involved are unable to reach an agreement, a lengthy judicial review can follow. In the event, claims on Hullavington were settled, but it was not exactly, to

An artistic render by WilkinsonEyre showing the completed D-Type hangars.

borrow wartime RAF slang, a “piece of cake”. The exciting thing is that Hullavington airfield is back in action as a place of innovative new technology, architecture and design as it was when it first opened in 1937. It is underpinned today by conservation, by a care for this Wiltshire landscape and a sense of the ways in which competing ideas of architects, designers and engineers of the past and from competing countries are somehow reconciled in Dyson’s future adventure open to global markets. The world came to Hullavington in the 1940s to thwart the Axis powers. Now it reaches out to the world again. As to the future, the barracks, when they come up for sale, and the streetscape they occupy would make an ideal test bed for intelligent electric cars, machines navigating the ground while, in terms of design and engineering, reaching for the sky.

Aircraft heyday THE EMPIRE CENTRAL FLYING SCHOOL (ECFS) WAS FORMED AT R.A.F. HULLAVINGTON ON THE 1ST APRIL 1942. BY NOVEMBER THE SQUADRON HAD OVER 1,000 PLANES.

15 13

05 04 03

02 01

16 different types of military aircraft assembled on the runway of Hullavington in 1942 for this unique picture Â© IWM

01 — De Havilland, DH.98 Mosquito

09 — De Havilland, Tiger Moth

Role: Fighter-bomber

Role: Training craft

First flight: 25th November 1940 Produced: 1940-1950 Number built: 7,781

First flight: 26th October Produced: 1931-1944 Number built: 8,868

02 — Hawker, Typhoon

10 — Avro, Lancaster

Role: Fighter-bomber

Role: Heavy Bomber

First flight: 24th February 1940 Produced: 1941-1945 Number built: 3,317

First flight: 9th January 1941 Produced: 1942-1945 Number built: 7,377

03 — Supermarine, Spitfire

11 — Miles, Magister

Role: Fighter/Reconnaissance

Role: Training craft

First flight: 5th March 1936 Produced: 1938-1948 Number built: 20,351

First flight: 20th March 1937 Produced: 1937-1941 Number built: 1,303

04 — Percival, Proctor

12 — Vickers, Wellington

Role: Communications trainer

Role: Medium Bomber/Anti-submarine aircraft

First flight: 8th October 1939 Produced: 1941-1945 Number built: 1,143

First flight: 15th June 1936 Produced: 1936-1945 Number built: 11,461 - 11,462

05 — Grumman, Avenger

13 — Douglas, Boston

Role: Torpedo Bomber

Role: Light Bomber

First flight: 7th August 1941 Produced: 1942-1960 Number built: 9,839

First flight: 23rd January 1939 Produced: 1939-1944 Number built: 7,478

06 — Hawker, Hurricane

14 — North American, Mitchell

Role: Fighter

Role: Medium Bomber

First flight: 6th November 1935 Produced: 1937-1944 Number built: 14,583

First flight: 19th August 1940 Produced: 1941-1979 Number built: 9,816

07 — Avro, Anson

15 — Short, Stirling

Role: Multi-engined aircrew trainer

Role: Heavy Bomber

First flight: 24th March Produced: 1930s-1952 Number built: 11,020

First flight: 14th May 1939 Produced: 1939-1945 Number built: 2,371

08 — Airspeed, Oxford

16 — GAL, Hotspur glider

Role: Training craft

Role: Training Glider

First flight: 19th June 1937 Produced: 1937-1956 Number built: 8,586

First flight: 5th November 1940 Produced: 1940-1943 Number built: 1,015

POSTWAR WW2 brought Europe to its knees. After its conclusion many military sites were left to rot

Buildings, like ideas, take on a life and story of their own - with highs and lows. Even the largest and most heroic structures can fall into disrepair and become shadows of their former selves. R.A.F. Hullavington was built for war. But after hostilities ended its vast hangars were emptied, as the aircraft and their crews took flight. Abandoned for years, Hullavington airfield fell silent.

But the spirit of engineering soldiered on; living and breathing in the then derelict hangars. Even during the lowest point in this depression, the airfield's mechanical essence refused to die. Something exemplified by the events of a very special year...

IN 1 9 7 0 . ..

The airfield was built on excitement and risk.

Right: An illustration taken from the official championship programme Below: Art Scholl, pictured sitting on the wing of his Pitts Special aeroplane

American pilot, Art Scholl, took part in the sixth World Aerobatics Championships at Hullavington airfield. He battled the Russians in a bitterly close contest - which was won by an eyelash. This is his story. THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS TELL THE DRAMATIC STORY OF THE 1970 WAC, WRITTEN BY A PILOT WHO WAS THERE

"Stunt Flying? Not on your life! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no more like the old-fashioned stunt flying than Olympic gymnastics is like the tricks done by Hollywood stunt men. Call it by its real name: Aerobatics. The 60 pilots gathered for the World Aerobatics Championships occasionally do stunts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like picking up a ribbon strung between two poles, just a few feet above the ground. But these pilots were in Hullavington (England) in mid-July, for two weeks of the most intricate, demanding flying known to man. All directly in front of an international panel of judges."

The event calendar published in the official programme, showing the two-week schedule

"National prestige is certainly involved, but the intensity of the competition goes far beyond it. When you get top pilots from 11 countries together, their natural spirit takes over. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a friendly meeting, but the titles of 'Individual World Champion,' and 'World Team Champion' are highly prized, and the hard work that goes into winning them is not taken lightly."

"The meet actually starts with a formal practice session to give all the pilots a chance to familiarize themselves with the airfield and to acquaint themselves with landmarks they will soon have to use when maneuvering at strange altitudes. While doing a roll in a vertical dive, there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much time to look around for a familiar landmark on which to line up."

"On a pleasant, cool, clear English evening, the first pilot took off. At the end of the first maneuvers, the U.S. was in an excellent position. National Champ [Bob] Herendeen was in second place (out of 50) trailing the Russian, Igor Egorov, by 3,747 to 3,711."

"The team that leads in this monstrous part of the competition must be composed of the best pilots. The regimentation practiced by the Soviet bloc nations doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work here. The American Team superiority was overwhelming. Egorov was still individual leader, but Herendeen was close behind and the American team led by more than 500 points."

"By halfway, the team title was headed back across the Atlantic with the US. But tremendous attention then turned to Herendeen and Egorov's battle for individual honors."

The hidden beauty of Aerobatic sequence notes

The system judges use to mark the quality of the competitor’s aerobatic manoeuvres was invented by Colonel José Luis Aresti Aguirre (1917-2003). The FIA describe the Spanish pilot Aresti as “a true legend in the world of aerobatics”. He is credited with inventing the aerocrytographic System which is still used to judge aerobatic competitions today. The Aresti Catalog organises manoeuvres and combinations into a dictionary, giving each corresponding move “coefficients of difficulty (K factors)”. Each manoeuvre is scored from 0-10 with differences of 0.5 for steps between grades. This mark is then multiplied by the K factor to take into account the manoeuvre’s difficulty.

For example: A pilot executes a manoeuvre that one judge decides is worth 7 marks out of 10. The K factor for this particular manoeuvre is 8. Therefore, the total number of points given for the manoeuvre is 56.

The World Aerobatic Championships were judged during four programmes of aerobatic flying. The official rules and regulations were published by the competition’s governing body, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), and distributed to the competitors and press. As the competition pamphlet explained, “the first three programmes are concerned with selecting the final number to go forward to fly the fourth programme which decides the ultimate winner.” The first programme consisted of a ‘Compulsory Known Sequence’ which was “a series of individual aerobatic manoeuvres strung together and flown as a whole.” It was distributed months before the event so as to give pilots “a chance to practise it”. The second programme was a ‘Compulsory Unknown Sequence” which was “put together by the organisers 24 hours before it [was] flown and [came] as a complete surprise to the competing pilots”. The third, was a ‘Free Programme’ which was selected by the pilot. Finalists then took part in a further free programme to determine an overall winner.

” Egorov led 6,670 to 6,556. But the final two free groups were Herendeen’s speciality and his chances of moving into the lead looked excellent. Until suddenly his propeller stopped! ”

"Just as he was going into a tail spin, the powerful engine in his red-and-white Pitts Special just quit! He recovered smoothly and made an expert emergency landing, but the team and its growing body of followers held their collective breath. Through two careful inspections of the engine and two lengthy meetings of the International Jury, they held their breath. Finally, and not without the unfortunate sight of the Russian juror stamping out in a fit of temper, Herendeen was absolved of responsibility and permitted to fly his Third Group maneuvers again."

1. Hirth Hi 27 Acrostar, 1970

2. Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, 1935

3. Pitts Special S-1S, 1944

4. Zlin Z-526 Akrobat, 1959

"Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never seen such tension and suspense built up at any world competition. Everyone has been watching the battle between Bob and Egorov. But as soon as everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ready to go the Russians gladly put their planes away again."

"This went on for three days. Finally there was one chance left to fly. But the wind picked up to about 12 meters per second. By noon the Championship was called. Egorov became champion and Herendeen was runner up. It was over and it was a relief - there had been enough pressure to last a couple of World Championships."

"There was a little time to relax. And to fly other people’s planes. British Champ Neil Williams took Herendeen’s Pitts Special up for a 10-minute flight that lasted a half hour. Herendeen flew the big, bulky-looking Russian Yak18 which had beaten him, and was surprised by its lightness on the controls, but felt it would take a lot of getting used to. Several pilots flew the radical little Swiss-German “Acrostar” and were as impressed with its flying as they had been by Arnold Wagner’s fourth-place finish in the barely-tested machine. A few minutes later, the [American Team’s] four little Pitts Specials, the Akromaster and the Super Chipmunk taxied out, took off and disappeared quickly into the greyness, on the first leg of their long trip back home. They took back everything they had brought with them, plus the Nesterov Cup for the Team Championship, a gold medal for Mary Gaffaney’s First Group victory, and a lifetime’s worth of memories."

Left: Three printed envelopes released to celebrate 1970's the year of aeroplanes Above: The official FAI results, signed by Director General, C.E. Hennecart

PRESENT & FUTURE Restoration offers a second chance to buildings which were destined to be destroyed

Our buildings' histories, and the design icons we fill them with, provide us with inspiration and perspective as we develop new technologies for the future. Our atypical approach to creating new spaces isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the cheapest or easiest; but the results excite us. And we're only just beginning. Taking on a restoration project on this scale is complex, but by investing in Hullavington airfield

we are building a campus that's imbued with a spirit of engineering, invention and risk taking. These are the ideals that drove those who went before us and they will, we hope, help to propel us forward on our journey into the future.

How to buy an airfield In February 2017, Dyson announced that it would restore Hullavington airfield, and in the process, increase the size of its British R&D base by over 1,200 percent. What was once a run down R.A.F. base would soon be transformed into a tech campus for the 21st century. But, purchasing a British military site and converting it for “civilian use” is a long process, fraught with complexities which make it unlike buying any other piece of land. The story began in 2016, when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) published A Better Defence Estate, outlining its 25year plan to consolidate Britain's military estate – at that time, covering 1.8 percent of the UK – into fewer, larger sites. To put this figure in perspective, only six percent of the entire UK landmass comprises physical buildings. Consequently R.A.F. Hullavington was listed as “ready for disposal”. Other surplus sites across the country are already being prepared for other uses, most notably housing. Hullavington airfield was one of the MoD's first sites to find a new owner, with Dyson announcing its purchase of the site just three months after the government published its estates report. At 750 acres, Hullavington airfield, Dyson’s third UK site, is over 10 times the size of its Malmesbury campus. The process of renovating the airfield's 80-year old hangars started immediately, beginning with Hangar 86. This makes the process of buying and renovating an airfield sound easy. It wasn’t. Aside from the complex operational demands of converting a site from military to civilian usage, as the land used to create Hullavington was purchased using the government's compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers, buying it means complying with an obscure set of rules that that date back to a political scandal in the 1950s - the Crichel Down affair. What are Crichel Down rules? Like many Royal Air Force facilities, R.A.F. Hullavington has origins in the frantic rearmament of the late 1930s. Conflict with Germany seemed inevitable, and the rapid expansion of British air power was seen as key to defending the country. As a result, airfields were widely dispersed to make it harder for enemy forces to knock them out. In the last three years of the 1930s, the R.A.F. opened more than 80 new airbases in every corner of the UK. The speed of this expansion had its downsides. Buying lots of land in a hurry often means paying lots for it. But the government avoided the spiralling costs of the open market by making full use of CPO powers, acquiring all the land it required – whether owners wanted to sell or not. The war would see the government requisition more than 14.5m acres of land which it used for new airfields, accommodation and allotments. The expectation – made explicit by Winston Churchill, in a 1941 parliamentary speech – was that much of this land would, after the war, be returned to its original owners for roughly the amount they'd been paid for it. In practice, that didn't always happen.

“ In the last three years of the 1930s the R.A.F. opened more than 80 new airbases in every corner of the UK. ”

“ Whereas after the war the MoD was keen to keep hold of the newly gained land, today the MoD is scaling back its estate. ”

In 1938 the government had CPO-ed 725 acres of Dorset farm land from the 3rd Baron Alington for bombing practice. Alington assumed that, when the R.A.F. no longer needed it, ownership would revert to his heirs. It didn't. Instead, it was passed to the Ministry of Agriculture, which valued the land at substantially more than its original purchase price, and promptly leased it out. The case caused a national outcry which later became known as the Crichel Down affair. While few recall the affair now, the result was one of those minor political scandals that litter British history: a five-year campaign by Alington’s daughter led, first, to a public inquiry, and then, in 1954, to the first ministerial resignation since 1917. New rules on both ministerial responsibility and the government’s use of land still apply today. Crichel Down Rules have been amended several times, weren’t even officially published until 1992, and have never consistently applied in any case. Essentially, they give the original owners of land (or their heirs) first refusal on any disposal of CPO-ed government land, providing it had been in government hands for less than 25 years, and “has not been materially changed in character”; and that they should not be materially disadvantaged by the terms of a buy-back. In the official guidance document for “Compulsory purchase process and The Crichel Down Rules” provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, the general rules state: “Where a department wishes to dispose of land to which [Crichel Down] Rules apply, former owners will, as a general rule, be given a first opportunity to repurchase the land previously in their ownership, provided that its character has not materially changed since acquisition. The character of the land may be considered to have ‘materially changed’ where, for example, dwellings or offices

have been erected on open land, mainly open land has been afforested, or where substantial works to an existing building have effectively altered its character. The erection of temporary buildings on land, however, is not necessarily a material change. When deciding whether any works have materially altered the character of the land, the disposing department should consider the likely cost of restoring the land to its original use”. The land used for R.A.F. Hullavington was initially agricultural and purchased after 1st January 1935, leading some to argue that Crichel Down Rules need not apply. The government disagreed, deeming that the purchase should be subject to the rules - despite the fact that building an airfield could be considered a material change to the site. Whereas after the war the MoD was keen to keep hold of the newly gained land, today the MoD is scaling back its estate. UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, announced the Better Defence Estate plan. Describing its contents, he said “by streamlining the Defence estate, we will ensure that it better meets the needs of the Armed Forces well into the future”. His comments address the fact that many of the MoD’s sites, including R.A.F. Hullavington had been left to decay. When asked about the local reaction to Hullavington’s restoration, James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire said: “I welcome the work which [Dyson] are doing improving a site which was messy before. Broadly speaking, local people support the sensible reuse of R.A.F. Hullavington and are pleased to have Dyson in the area”. “The area has always had engineering history. I heard the rumour that there's a Spitfire engine buried under the runway. It is logical that a local site which used to be a proud home of the R.A.F.’s planes will be used to develop electric cars in the future, rather than another housing estate”.

P R OJ E C T R E V I VA L The once vital airfield decayed without the lifeblood of planes and engineering. But Dyson wants to breathe new life into it...

Chris Wilkinson pictured in his recently completed, and RIBA Award winning, Gasholders building in King's Cross

Chris Wilkinson â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Architect THE MAN GIVING DYSON ROOM TO BREATHE

You're mentioned in Sir James Dyson's autobiography, Against the Odds, published back in 2000. How did you first meet?

We met through Tony Hunt, a very talented engineer who I worked with at Foster Associates, Richard Rogers and Partners and other practices. We kept in touch when I set up on my own. James asked Tony to recommend an architect and I was one of them. I went to see him and got on well. This was over 20 years ago and we are still working together now on new projects.

Hangar 86, your most recent Dyson building was a restoration project rather than a new building. How does it compare?

Well, I am fortunate to have direct access to him, and we have regular design updates on all the projects we are working on. But everything is going to be judged against the Dyson standard. That's the thing. So, it has to be right.

I think it's the most fantastic space. It doesn't feel like a hangar, it feels like a Dyson building. It's quite high with a curved roof and big mezzanines that create big openings. It feels very light and airy and modern even though it's a Second World War hangar. The funny thing was that, in our first meeting about it, I'd drawn the exterior in dark grey. Without me saying anything, [ James] said, "I want it black." I said, "Oh, I've got dark grey." He said, "Well, dark grey or black." He wanted it dark and it was exactly the same feeling I had. If you made them white they're big. Not ugly, but they're big. Making them black is somehow gives them a chic presence. It's funny because we must have both been thinking about it at the same time.

Which of Dyson's buildings did you most enjoy designing?

Do you like using new technology in your architecture?

Do you talk with Sir James frequently about his future projects?

I'm very pleased with the London and New York shops. James always refers back to the Paris shop, which we designed with him 15 years ago. We put all the vacuums on pedestals. They were like artworks. He liked that.

Is actually sketching ideas an important part of your work?

Yes, I always carry a sketchbook. A couple of years ago I put on an exhibition called ‘Thinking Through Drawing’ at The Royal Academy of Arts which featured 21 of my sketchbooks. So, yes, it's very important. I have also noticed that James always has a one on his table when I go to see him.

How do you translate your ideas into what a client wants?

I guess my design preferences are quite austere and minimalistic, but I respect my clients’ various tastes and am happy to work with them to develop their ideas.

What is the most important part of designing a Dyson building?

The most important thing is the wider Dyson identity. It's not about individual projects and products so much as the whole - which is getting bigger. I'm quite well tuned into how the design process works in Dyson and we try to design the buildings in the same way. But personally, I like to see the engineering. I don't want to cover things up, I want to see how it works. James and I have that in common, I think.

Every building is an opportunity to do something new and interesting. I hate seeing buildings which are bad. For example, it's easier to get planning permission if you use local stone, but nobody encourages developers to use technology. They build houses with a wet process: plaster, mortar, bricks. It they take forever to build. Developers who are only interested in money want to hold back house building because, if there’s a shortage, they charge more for it, which is exactly the opposite of what the government want. They want more cheaper houses. The only way is to get some enlightened developers and encourage them to use better processes - modern processes.

Is Hullavington a 100 percent fresh air office like Malmesbury?

Yes. That's the first thing I say to people. Most modern units recycle air because it's cheaper. But when it's in open countryside? Dyson in Malmesbury was the first building with 100 percent fresh air. At the first meeting to discuss air-conditioning, engineers were explaining the technology and James asked: "What percentage of fresh air are you going to provide?" They said, "10%." He said, "No, I want 100 percent. I'm not sharing my air with anybody." The engineer said it wasn't possible and James said, "We need to get a new engineer." So we did and they made it possible. It is also becoming more popular because its healthier.

Hangar 86 No

When architect, Chris Wilkinson, first visited R.A.F. Hullavington it was more overgrown grassland than airfield. This became an important inspiration for the design process. It was important that buildings like H86 interacted appropriately with their rural surroundings. As Chris explains, "on my first visit to Hullavington, I sat on a box to sketch and admire this robust concrete hangar, thinking about how it could be transformed into a Dyson design and research building. Located in the idyllic Wiltshire countryside, this vast site began in 1937 as a MoD flight training school and aircraft storage unit for over 400 planes."

O N: PA P E R Celebrating the sketches where all great ideas started

Hangar 86 — Outside A 360° TOUR OF DYSON'S LATEST SECRET SPACE

H86 is a "Type D" hangar which is 93m long, 47m wide and 20m tall

The iconic hangar doors were painstakingly refurbished and are now permanently open

Left: The front and rear of the hangar has almost floor to ceiling glass windows

Right: D type hangars are very recognisable with huge protruding steel trusses at both ends

Hangar 86 — Inside A 360° TOUR OF DYSON'S LATEST SECRET SPACE

Hangar 86 is the first of Hullavington airfield's buildings to be restored

Its innovative design means there are no floor to ceiling support beams inside H86

Double height mezzanines and length-tolength corridors offer unbroken views

Left: Meeting rooms have views of the airfield's rural landscape

Right: Breakout areas encourage people to stop and talk, not email

H ULLAVINGTON 2.0

Hullavington airfield gives Dyson the room it needs grow. Now we finally get a glimpse of what that future is going to be...

At 750 acres, Dysonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Hullavington airfield is 10x larger than the existing 56-acre Malmesbury campus.

The journey continues Dyson here offers an exclusive first look at the site ‘masterplan’, revealling the plans for their newest campus, Hullavington Airfield. The plans, which were submitted to Wiltshire County Council in August 2018, represent Phase Two for the airfield and reveal a clear automotive focus for the future. In addition to the restoration work already being carried out on Hullavington's hangars, Dyson will be creating new buildings and areas to put the battery-powered electric vehicle they are currently developing through its paces. There will be test tracks for handling, rural and off-road courses, a skid pan and, perhaps most interestingly, a high-speed runway for cars which can reach speeds of above 100mph. To date, Dyson has spent nearly £85 million restoring Hangars 85 and 86. But, the full scale of the investment into the 750-acre airfield is set to reach £550 million once it is fully operational. Phase Two alone will cost Dyson £200 million. Reiterating the company’s huge investment in developing an electric vehicle, Jim Rowan, Dyson’s CEO said: “Our growing automotive team is now working from Dyson’s state-of-the-art hangars at Hullavington Airfield. It will quickly become a world-class vehicle testing campus where we anticipate investing £550m, creating even more high-skilled jobs for Britain.” Working closely with WilkinsonEyre, the planning outline also includes additional office space which could accommodate over 2,000 people, a sports centre, café, and a new visitor centre for people to learn about Dyson’s new electric vehicle. 400 members of Dyson’s automotive team have already moved into H86, and a further three buildings are set to be delivered over the coming months.

"These are the ideals that drove those who went before us along the road of progress, and they will help propel us forward on our journey into the future."

on:Hullavington

Articles inside

03 - Present & Future

02 - Post-War

01 - The Past